34 | SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY

The idea of a crisis of democracy is hardly new. For decades, scholars have debated the structural shortcomings of democratic systems: limited parliamentary representation, low levels of citizen participation, threats to minority rights, the rise of bureaucratic and technocratic governance, the financial manipulation of elections, and the growing concentration of media power. Globally, the challenge has been to democratize international institutions such as the United Nations, support transitions from autocracy to constitutional democracy, and strengthen democratic practices in self-proclaimed democracies that remain, in many respects, incomplete.

Political philosophers have long addressed these issues through theories of justice, deliberation, and the development of global legal norms. Yet, the crisis has taken a darker turn in recent years. New phenomena have emerged: the rise of illiberal democracies, resurgent nationalism, and the return of war as a geopolitical tool. Traits reminiscent of totalitarianism have returned in regimes such as Russia’s, while constitutional norms face mounting pressure in the United States and Europe alike. The foundational principles of democratic governance—rule of law, judicial independence, parliamentary oversight, and media freedom—are visibly eroding. At the same time, foreign interference increasingly threatens the integrity of elections. In place of democratic governance, a new model is gaining ground: autocratic, centralized, and highly personalized.

These trends are reshaping the global order. The binary opposition of “West versus the Rest” is yielding to a multipolar rivalry among dominant autocratic regimes. Even the more recent framing of a divide between the West and the so-called Global South fails to capture the shifting geopolitical landscape. In both the United States and Europe, democratic norms and institutions are under sustained pressure. Russia’s expansionist war and new U.S. territorial ambitions mark a critical turning point. Within the European Union, some member states are drifting closer to Moscow, while anti-democratic and anti-European forces are gaining traction in countries such as France and Germany.

These developments raise a set of urgent and interrelated questions: What kind of world order is now emerging? Will the international legal framework that began to take shape after the fall of the Berlin Wall be supplanted by a new division of the world into spheres of influence dominated by authoritarian leaders? Can democracy respond by resisting, adapting, or reimagining its global role? Can civil society/ citizens` resistance within and beyond nation-states boundaries “save” democracy? For Europe, the challenge is particularly acute. Can it defend democratic values while asserting a coherent strategic identity? Or will it remain exposed to the ambitions of stronger powers such as China, the United States, and Russia?

This seminar will address these pressing questions in two parts. First, it will offer a diagnosis of the current democratic crisis. Second, it will explore the ways in which democratic institutions and civil society might resist authoritarian drift and renew the democratic promise